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Mavs Planned for Luka Doncic Load Management After Losing Jalen Brunson to Knicks.
In early February, the Dallas Mavericks were threatening to overtake the Sacramento Kings for the third seed in the Western Conference playoff standings before things went south in a hurry. From that moment on, the Mavs plummeted all the way out of the NBA postseason picture, not even qualifying for the play-in tournament.
Many people pointed to the Kyrie Irving trade as the reason for Dallas’ demise, but in all reality, Irving was one of the few bright spots the Mavs actually had this season, both on and off the court. The trade with the Brooklyn Nets did affect the Mavs’ overall depth, though, as they had to exchange two key starters in Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith for one in Irving.
Under normal circumstances, Luka Doncic would have been able to compensate for that lack of depth, but the problem was that even with Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith on the team before the blockbuster trade, he still carried the biggest workload of his young career … and the fatigue from that showed late in the season. Doncic and Irving took turns nursing nagging injuries in the team’s final 20 games, and the Mavs weren’t able to overcome that, as well as the limited time they had to establish better chemistry.
According to The Athletic’s Tim Cato, the Mavs foresaw Doncic having a near-historic workload with Jalen Brunson leaving for the New York Knicks, and they had load management plans in place for him before the season even began due to him having a summer filled with international play.
“[Doncic’s workload] was a concern Dallas had before the season even began, and it had been decided, team sources said, that Doncic would enter the season with a load management plan after a short summer caused by the extended postseason run and his extensive national team duties for Slovenia,” Cato wrote. “But Dallas quickly realized that the team relied on him to win more than it had imagined.”
The goal for the Mavs going forward is to have enough quality rotational pieces around Doncic so that he can be fresh for the final stretch of next season. Adding Irving into the mix helps on the offensive end, but the team needs more capable wing defenders around the star duo, as well as a big-man upgrade in the middle. Dallas ranked 25th in defensive rating this season and dead-last in rebounding.
Given that the Mavs don’t have many trade assets to work with, filling in all of their roster holes in one offseason will be a tough task to ask of GM Nico Harrison. It’s a lot easier said than done, but it’s also something that must be done if Dallas wants to find its way back to the playoffs next year. Perhaps the Mavs can finally have some much-needed NBA Lottery luck for the first time in franchise history on May 16 to get the ball rolling.
https://www.si.com/
